Witness to history

Editor’s note: Adrienne Reaves-Taylor, the designer/production coordinator at Virginia Business, is covering the inauguration at the Capitol.

From my seventh row seat in front of the stage, I can look up and see the dome of the Capitol. I can see masses of people all the way back to the Washington Monument. It’s incredible. The man sitting next to me, James LaBelle, flew out from Anchorage, Alaska. He just got a ticket on Thursday and cashed in 55,000 frequent flyer miles to get here. He said, “I don’t want to sit back and watch it on television. I want to be there.”

Another person I’ve met is a pastor from Atlanta. He drove up because his teenage son wanted to come. The feeling here from people is that they had to come to this historic event. It wasn’t a question of “Should I go?” It was, “I had to go.”

It’s the most historic event I’ve ever seen in my lifetime, without question. My toes are frozen. It’s ice cold, about 30 degrees and sunny. It was dark when I got here. I saw the sunrise. The Metro was so crowded that I had to stand. I got off the Metro at 5:10 a.m. and stood in line until 8 a.m. to go through the security check point so I could get to my seat.

I’ve seen lots of celebrities. Guess who I took a picture of? Denzel Washington. Jamie Lee Curtis walked by. And Angela Bassett and Tom Hanks.